ok... here is a list of some of the beats that really stood out for me..

Stancrates: really sick sound.. its more commercial sounding then the rest.. but its a headknocker !Nathanalexander: GilaSelectah told me about this one today.. like he said.. you want to listen to it over & over again...GilaSelectah: thats my boy ! he really chopped it up into an amazing headknocker.. cant wait to hear someone rhyme over this one.Mellowyouth: he just freaked the fuck out of the samples... really did something unique with it..We Wear Capes: are you shitting me... INSANE !! ( but its 1 second to long )Robot Orchestra: great vibe ! thats it...one of the best with the voicebox !Shador the black: Big shout outs for the drums !! listen to it and just focus on the little things.. amazing !Butta Slick: DUSTY, GRIMEY, BOOM-BAP, FILTHY, ETC. ETC. !! HARD !!

and the winner is... STANCRATES !!!shit is not my style... but it makes my head knock.. and it sounds WAAAaAAyYY different then the rest !! the way he flipped the bass into a guitar.. the way it flows.. amazing ! i might even send you a pm of me dropping a verse over this !!

Awesome tracks this week! Worked my way down the list and fav'd all of my favorites. However, widdled list down to three:

Dingus – Once you get like 1 min into the song and that organ kicks in, aw man. Awesome work. Can hear an MC ripping this up.Robot Orchestra – All around cool track. Bass is sickeningly smooth, and just kills itIliad – Epic production, bassline is nasty. Best use of the Diatonic, South American 2-stone Kalimba out of the group.

I LI A D gets the vote

AND TOO... Some Kalimba tips via the premiere Kalimba website on the internet - "Kalimba Magic". This man is one of my favorite Kalimbists in the past 25 years or so.

Bear with me as I share my thoughts on the nature of these beat battles. I'd say, if you want to enjoy them, check your ego at the door when you enter because there is a massive amount of talent and passion around here. You have to be brilliant to really stand out. I see these cats at a mountain peak that I'm thrilled about the thought of climbing. As far as voting goes, I think very few of us want to grade beats for 4 hours every week. Being overly critical can keep one from enjoying music, which is what its there for if its made right, right? My new approach to voting is listening as I do other things that are somewhat mindless, like cleaning up my place, working out, cooking, etc. and when something strikes me as remarkably dope I "favorite" it, then, after all beats are in, listen to my favorites and choose one to vote for. This week I'm going with Perrin and Tonic. Silver and Bronze to S.F.T. and MellowYouth.

Pulling the lot of you up on this, this is bollocks votes are coming in and there is 16 plays on fingersnap dee's beat come on!! oh well your loss, it's a dope beat!! I'm not impressed with this though, not exactly fair is it.

i said this last week, and i'll say it again...as far as the "voting before listening" thing goes, it's pretty unfair- but i don't give a shit anymore haha, these boards broke me down to where i don't care. i do think, however, that there is a solution to this issue. someone up a few posts from this one mentioned that they don't wanna "grade beats for 4 hours every week". this wouldn't be the case if the beats were overall a little bit shorter. i still think that whoever wins this round (which as of right now is Montyshoewalker) should really consider setting a stricter time limit for each beat, like somewhere between 30-60 seconds. this would mean everyone would have to step up their game and really impress people within a short amount of time, as well as cutting down the overall time we all would have to spend sitting down (or cleaning, driving, etc) listening to the entries. just a thought, but i really think it would resolve the issue at least a little bit...great beats this week though, everyone! now i gotta get back to my geology class i'm in right now (the fat girl sitting next to me has a really annoying laugh...maybe we can all sample it for next week haha).